Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State not only for being in the Chamber but also for outlining the Government's position on and support for the Bill and the ethos behind it. I thank my Fine Gael colleagues who spoke in support of the Bill in the Chamber, in particular, Deputies Bruton, Richmond, Carroll MacNeill and McHugh.

Deputy Carroll MacNeill is right when she says that it is fantastic to see our male colleagues in the Chamber tonight shining a spotlight on this issue. That is both a positive and a negative. It is a positive because we need men to be allies for women in every industry, but it is also a negative. The fact that Deputy Carroll MacNeill and I are the only female Fine Gael backbenchers is a negative, and we would like to see more female Deputies. That is what the Bill is all about. Getting women to the top of whatever industry they choose to be in lies at the heart of the Bill.

The Bill builds on the work done on the ground by so many of the women's groups that I have had much interaction with in the past number of months, such as Balance for Better Business. It also builds upon the work of, for example, the former Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, and my constituency predecessor, Frances Fitzgerald, who brought her significant focus of this issue at a national level to the European stage. She has played an instrumental role in making sure that the EU directive is something from which counties like Ireland will benefit. Let me be clear: while I am very supportive of the EU ruling coming our way and the fact that we will have to adapt and ensure that we address and respond to it, I do not want us to wait for the ruling to be made. I want us to get ahead of it, prepare and move in advance of the ruling in order that Ireland will be a leader in this area within the EU.

By way of my experience, I worked in the corporate world before I was elected as a Deputy. I worked in a large multinational corporation for three female vice presidents. They inspired me to chase my dreams and achieve whatever I could. They always said that gender should never be a barrier. We need more women like them to inspire the next generation of women who are going through school and college to achieve their full potential and get to the board level of whatever company in whatever industry they want. We need more leaders, both male and female, like that. There are so many capable women out there who are board-ready.

My career thus far has shown me countless examples in the professional, NGO and political worlds of intelligent, intuitive, tenacious, capable women whom any business would be so lucky to have serving on their board. However, many would agree that barriers, such as the confidence, imposter syndrome, or becoming a parent, have held them back and significantly hampered their trajectory towards upper management and board level positions. That is not fair because it is an occurrence that does not seem to impact men in the same way it impacts women. That is why Deputy Carroll MacNeill and I do not buy into the narrative that there are more men on corporate boards simply because there are more men qualified for the job. I do not doubt the talent, intelligence or qualifications of the men on corporate boards, but the fact is that women do not get the same opportunities to even get a foot in the door to show their talent, intelligence or qualifications. For this reason, the Bill aims to level the playing field and make companies look outside their usual talent pool and to open opportunities to equally deserving women.

In my discussions with the organisations that I collaborated and engaged with in preparing the Bill, I came across an interesting stakeholder, Vivienne Jupp. She was the first female chair of CIÉ and is a founder of Board Diversity Initiative, which brings together board-ready women. It creates a database or directory of women with qualifications and credentials who are willing, able and capable of serving as executive board members. It is an excellent resource as well as a counter argument to the naysayers who say that there are not enough women to fill the spaces; there are. We need to give women the opportunity to fill the spaces.

Most companies, with a bit of effort, will find that there are women out there who are just as qualified, willing, and able to serve on corporate boards as their male counterparts. That will also bring added advantage in terms of providing a different perspective, diversity of thought and experience. That is what the Bill commits to achieving. As Deputy Richmond stated, our boardrooms need to be a better reflection of society and business consumers. We all have a role to play in breaking down the unconscious biases and reinforced stereotypes that exist. We simply have to do so. It is up to all of us across society to do this.

I recognise that the corporate world is just one area of business and life in general where gender representation needs to be looked at. Nonetheless, it is worth starting somewhere. I am confident that the Bill will deliver and confident in the support I have received from my colleagues in Fine Gael, the Minister, Minister of State, whose Department will be critical to the success of the Bill, and the different business and women's organisations, including IBEC and SIPTU, with which I have worked and engaged. I recognise the members of the cross-party women's caucus. They discussed the initiative this time last year for which there was significant willingness for cross-party support. That is why it is so important that we do this. We need to level the playing field and give women a chance to show that they can earn a place at the top table. We need to get to a situation whereby, five years from now, when someone thinks of a board, he or she does not think of a table with men around it. That is out ambition. That is where we need to get to. I commend the Bill to the House.

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